U.K. - Drug deaths in Scotland rose by 23% in 2016

[S.J.B.]

Drug deaths in Scotland rose by 23% in 2016
BBC
August 15th, 2017

The number of drug-related deaths in Scotland last year totalled 867, a rise of 23% on 2015.

Numbers have been steadily increasing since 1995, when 426 fatal overdoses were recorded.

The latest statistics from the National Records of Scotland showed more than 70% of deaths were among people aged 35 or over.

Critics say the continuing rise calls into question the effectiveness of the Scottish government's drugs strategy.

However, the minister for public health, Aileen Campbell, said "unfortunately" the figures for Scotland were representative of a general trend of increasing drug deaths "across the UK and in many other parts of Europe".

Read the full story here.

Download the government report here.

 

[S.J.B.]

According to this report, Scotland's annual drug-related death rate is 160 per million population. This puts it well ahead of all countries in Europe and equal to the United States.

The Scottish annual report on drug deaths is the most comprehensive I have ever come across. Here are some of the most salient statistics, which are fairly consistent with the data of previous years:

- 94% of the deaths occurred after the consumption of two or more substances
- at least one opioid was present in 90% of the deaths
- at least one benzodiazepine was present in 73% of the deaths
- alcohol was present in 38% of the deaths
- only 3.6% of the deaths occurred after the consumption of a single non-opioid substance or single non-opioid substance in combination with alcohol

As always, it really comes down to polydrug intoxication due to combinations of depressants.